Frontal Crisis: School Defendiere Project
by E-RazorLightEX
Summary: In a modern world, nine girls aims to make the world a better place after being a popular School Idols. But global crisis such as terrorism spread throughout Japan. In this situation, one man stood up on their side, protecting them against the odds. Will they survive the terrorist's threats and make this world a better place? Only their strength of will can dictate their fate.
1. Chapter ZERO: Operation Run-and-Gun

**Title: Frontal Crisis: School Defendiere Project**

 **Genres: Action, Comedy, Romance, Yuri, Drama, Crime**

 **Pairings: Some of the pairings like KotoUmi, NicoMaki, RinPana, NozoEli and EreAn. (I have a better plan for Honoka and Tsubasa since the two are straight in my story. huehuehue~)**

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Frontal Crisis ZERO (Prologue): Operation Run-and-Gun

The world is a never-ending change, and change is the only thing that last forever. Money and Power makes the world change, to make the world go round at your grasp, whether it is for the greater good or for the worse. In this changing world, people seek out for power to satisfy their desires, even if it means of trampling on other people and crushing their dreams to achieve their own. These desires create war and chaos that inflicts bloodshed to each other, and the innocence will be caught in this violent maelstrom. This is how the world works. However… there are still people who seek peace rather than power, risking their very lives for the greater good of humanity. One of those people is the royal country of United Kingdom and their British army pride, the Special Air Service.

Somewhere in the British soil, a royal country leaded by the monarchy, a group of five armor trucks rolls wildly within the roads, followed by the exchanges of gunshots as these band of trucks was been chased down by a armored military truck called Humvee and a small assault helicopter mounted with mini-guns and missiles on its sides. It is said that this band of trucks was a group of terrorists and bomb-makers, and the one that chases them are the SAS Soldiers of 24th Regiment. The chase down is getting intense as the two groups are exchanging gunshots, air is stained with the scent of gunpowder and street dusts. Some part of the city has been locked down already and not safe for the people to walk down the streets.

On the side of SAS, a pitch-black soldier wearing a gas mask and a vest full of ammunition is riding on the Humvee, he is positioning on the roof of the car, gunning the enemy's car with the use of his black-schemed Assault Rifle.

"Reaper-02, this is Romeo-06 in position. I got my sight on one of them. Can you take care of the others?"

He said those words on his radio while he fixed his vision on the Dual Scope of his rifle, aiming right at the tire of the moving truck but since the truck keeps on non-stop moving, he is somewhat having a hard time on shooting it. Steady….. Steady….. Don't let it get out of the sight. As the tire of the truck appeared on the vision of his scope, and the target part aims right through his crosshair, he quickly pulled the trigger of the rifle and shot the target….

 ***BANG-BANG-BANG!***

 ***CLANK! SCCHHHHHTTTT….!***

 ***BOOM!***

One of the trucks got hit right on its tire! It's losing its maneuver, and later stumbled at the street and exploded into a wholesale. Tango down! The terrorists and their bomb-maker on the other trucks got started to panic for losing their comrades on that car, but that didn't stop them from getting away. They keep stepping hard on the gas pedal and steer their wheels as they pursue on getting away to the squad.

"Nice shot Romeo-06! Leave the others to me. Reaper-02 in position, preparing for gun run. Danger Close."

A woman with a bit eerie-voice said those words as it was her reply to him, praising for his work. Then she ordered him to keep himself away from that area because of the protocol "Danger Close." This girl is riding on a small assault helicopter called as "Little Bird," providing a overview vision and air support for them. She flew her helicopter down to them at close distance. Approximately, the level of her helicopter from the ground to air is just like a level of a three-storey building. She's all set for the gun run….

"Run for hell you bitches!"

She said those foul words right at the enemies, moving her helicopter forward at high speed, spinning the barrels of her Mini-Guns and starts firing a 50. Caliber rounds right at the terrorist's trucks.

 ***BBBRRRRRRRTTTT!***

The helicopter is gunning at the trucks. Each bullets of this air assaulter pierces through the roofs, tires and engines of the trucks, leaving them hopeless as the truck take a huge damage. After the gun run, their vehicle starts to lose control of it and stumbles at each other, coated in violent flames and explodes in-sync. Three of those trucks got pinned down, no survivor is left. Only one truck is left among those five, and the squad is suspecting that their leader was there. The helicopter shoots the last car by launching two missiles on it. The missiles flies towards the last truck, the first one got evaded and exploded on the ground, the other one got hit on the ground right close to the left tire of the truck. This explosion makes the driving unstable and finally loses its control. This is now the chance for the squad to end the chase!

"This is our chance. Run them down! Go! Go!"

"Got it sir. Hold your asses because we're hitting it hard baby!"

The driver of the Humvee said those words in an energetic tone, stepping the pedal at full speed as he was going to ramp his car right at the side of the truck where the main terrorist was sitting. They charged the truck like a raging bull over the helpless foe.

 ***CRASH!***

The ramping was a success! But that doesn't end it here. They pushed the truck and cornered it right at the end of the road, which is a thick concrete wall. This road leads to two-way road, like a T shaped road. Since the main terrorist was cornered to it, there's no escape for him now.

"Woo-hoo! We got a huge freakin' fish! Honk-honk!"

The driver said those words while non-stop beeping the honk of Humvee. It's a total noise barrage for the poor terrorist. The soldier named Romeo-06 who was riding on the roof of the Humvee jumped out from the car to the ground, approaching the terrorist and quickly punched it right through the face with its thick-leather gloves.

"Get the fuck out of there, bastard!"

He punched the terrorist again twice before pulling out of the squeezed truck. After pulling it out, he kicked the terrorist right through the back to make him kneel on the ground. The caught terrorist growled in pain, but he has no choice but to endure it. Then he restrained the terrorist's hand so that he wouldn't have a chance to act or escape again.

"This is Romeo-06, we've got the package. I repeat, we've got the package."

He reported his current situation to the headquarters via radio. After that, he demands to the headquarters to send a transport at their location to pick them up.

"Romeo-06 this is Commander Vassal. I have a new mission for you. Come here fast to my office after getting those work done. This is confidential, so your presence is needed."

"Roger that. Romeo-06 out."

The communication has been cut out. This soldier called Romeo-06 leaned on the Humvee while looking at the vast sky, thinking about what the higher-up said to him.

"Confidential huh…? I don't get it."

He uttered those words and let out a huge sigh. He's expecting another pain-in-the-ass mission again, one after another.

"Complaining again Romeo-06? You're spacing out a lot today."

Someone talks over to him through the radio. The voice is a bit eerie-sound…. It was Reaper-02, the pilot of the helicopter who provided an air support over them.

"Does that sound like a complaint? And it's natural to space out a little at the time like this you know."

He replied to her, denying the fact that he complain.

"The mission is not yet over until we put that guy into custody. Don't let him get away."

"Don't worry. He won't get away that easily. And besides, you have our eyes in the sky. You can just shoot him right at his legs if that happens."

"I would love to do that if it's possible. But too bad that won't happen, an order must be followed."

"I agree to that."

He agreed on what Reaper-02 said. Just what she said, they have no choice but to follow orders because they are soldiers. They have no right to act or give commands for themselves. He pulled out something from his pocket; it's a small metal container. As he opened it, there's a five chocolate bars inside of it, covered in silver foil. He took one of the chocolates and peeled its foil, and ate it little by little.

"By the way, you did a great job today Romeo-06. This one's for the books."

The girl on the radio said those words to him, praising him for the mission. She said those words in a bit girly tone.

"Heh. Easy day as always."

He replied to her in a cold tone. After a few minutes, the reinforcements riding on a Chinook Helicopter has arrived. The soldiers riding on it picked the terrorist and put him inside of the helicopter, and then Romeo-06 and the one who drive the Humvee get inside of the Helicopter. Finally, they're going back to the headquarters. Mission Accomplished.

* * *

Thirty minutes has passed since the bag and drag mission of them. The helicopter they're riding arrived at the SAS Headquarters, located at the Hereford UK. As the helicopter touches down, the soldiers picked up the terrorist and putted him into the custody for the interrogations. Meanwhile, Romeo-06 went out of the helicopter along with his companion during that mission.

"Hey pal. What are you going to do for now?"

His companion asked that to Romeo-06.

"I have to go to the Commander's Office for now. They want me there for something, Carl."

He replied back at Carl's question, saying it in a serious tone.

"Oh… That's kinda nerve-whacking."

"You might be right there, even worse than engaging on war."

"Then good luck out there pal, keep alive."

Carl left him standing near the helicopter. He also left afterwards, going straight at the Commander's Office for his next mission. The commander said that the mission is confidential, so he went there alone. After a few minutes, he reached the office. He cleared his throat first and breaths heavily to kill the tense before entering the office. As he entered, a spacious room has seen with well-organized shelf and framed medals displayed on the walls. As you entered the room, you can already see the office table in front of you, about six steps distance to the door. The commander is sitting at the other side of the table, besides the commander is the higher-ranked soldier, which is a girl.

"Romeo-06, reporting for duty."

He gave a salute to show his respect towards his higher-ranked officers. The Commander stands up and gave a salute towards him.

"Please take a seat."

The girl besides the commander offered a seat to him. Romeo-06 took the offer and sit on the chair that is placed in front of the table. He was a bit uncomfortable to himself because having him entered the office personally for a confidential mission is new to him.

"Relax. You don't need to stress out son."

A rough-looking man in front of him said those words to him. He was facing the large window located at the back of his table. Then he slowly showed his face towards Romeo-06. This man is wearing a black sunglasses and a formal commander's uniform. The black sun-glass makes it unable to read his thoughts or emotions, and the formal uniform signifies his high rank. This man is the SAS commander, code-name Vassal.

"Once again, I congratulate you on completing your mission. Thanks to your effort, the remaining leader of the terrorist's branch here is in our custody now."

"No problem sir. I just did the right thing to do."

"Now thinking about that, that reminds me of your wish that you mentioned to one of our Japanese compliance before."

The commander mentioned something to Romeo-06, and it seems that he referred something to the wish of his men.

"Oh, that? Heh, I still remember that. Thought it might be too late to make that happen. Not in this current situation."

The soldier said it in a low tone that gives a disappointment vibes.

"Well, you might be right about that. Our forces are still on the hunt against this World Terrorists Organization across the globe. Well… Corporal Christa, you can give the mission briefing to him now."

Commander Vassal ordered the girl named Christa to give the brown folder to him. This brown folder contains the mission briefing and other information about his new mission. He read what is in the folder carefully…

"What? I-is this will be my mission?! You can't be serious!"

Romeo-06 reacted to it in a surprising tone. Probably his mission is kind of strange, no one can tell it. Then Christa discussed the mission to make it clearer to him. The discussion takes almost one or two hours to finish it. The mission is pretty confidential, so it's only natural. Judging from his face reactions, we can say that Romeo-06 is kind of troubled to his next mission.

"Am I really going to do this kind of mission?"

He asked that question to Christa, and at the same time, asking it to himself also.

"You have no choice but to follow it. They need us to get this thing done, and only you are capable of doing this. And besides, other members of that fucktards are one of our countrymen. We can't let them tarnish our country's name. And besides, this is also a good opportunity for you son to finished what you left behind before."

The commander talked back at him. Yeah he knows that he can't say no to the orders, but still….

"B-but…"

"What is this? Are you saying that you can't do this? I thought you are capable at completing your missions. You are the pride of our country. Where is that pride now?"

The commander drilled that words right into his head that hits him hard in the thoughts. Christa just simply chuckled a bit.

"Alright-alright. I'll do it then… I have no choice either."

Finally, he agreed on taking the mission. He has no choice either, whether he take it or refuse it but forcing him to take by abusing him mentally.

"Good choice, my son. Besides, great opportunity comes to you as you go on through this mission. Consider that as a privilege."

"So where am I going to start this mission?"

"Next two weeks."

"What!? That's too ear-"

He tried to say something regarding on the start of mission but…

"Next two weeks. That's an order. Alice already knows this already, she'll help you with the preparations."

"Isn't that too earl-"

"This briefing is dismissed, you may go now."

"What? But sir-"

"Please leave now. Alice will help you from here on."

"Alright…"

He let out a huge sigh as he left the office. And the commander ended the mission briefings, without letting him replied or contradicts to the command, or even giving him a slight chance to complete what he want to say. In his thoughts, it's like he was thrown him up in a unknown place without directions. What could be that mission was given to him? What could be his future during the mission? No one knows it yet, only the future can tell it. And this will the story begins….

 **-END OF PROLOGUE-**

* * *

 **This Fanfiction is for entertainment purpose only, and it is not intended to offend or tackled about the world issues such as terrorism, politics and others whatsoever. If ever the name of a character here is as same as a real life person's name, it's is just a coincidence and it doesn't refer to anyone.**

 **I made this fanfic to hone my skills at making story, and at the same time, to preserve the memories of our nine singing goddesses μ's, and how these goddesses change the future of a man who got attached his life in the line of duty as a soldier.**

 **This story emphasizes the fact that how the life of a person who struggles against the cruel fate of reality, without direction, got change after meeting the μ's members.**

 **I add some OCs here and some characters from the N cards of SIF. Yeah i know that your eyebrows twitches when i inserted an OCs here, but please don't judge it too quickly and continue reading it. You might find out yourself that the main OC i made is not like the OC you think. I guarantee you guys that this main OC will make the mentioned shippings more interesting.(I sure hope so. Yosh! make that happen! don't break the people's hearts. :D)**

 **I hope you enjoy reading my story, and feel free to point out my errors, so that i could use it to shape up my writing style for the better future. :)**


	2. Chapter ONE: The Blondie Transferee

**Greetings! I humbly welcome you to my manor. lol! just kidding! XD**

 **Anyways, i am E-Razor Light(Call me Razor for short) and this is my first Love Live based story to be posted, and I'm not that really good at writing fics(since i am well-used at directing my fic through drawings and manga-style, rather than words. kek! :v), but i will do my best to make the story interesting! I wrote this story to show my love and interest to this LL Fandom, especially to the greatest leader of Muse, Kousaka Honoka. She really captivates me oddly but in a good way. she also reminds me some of my past self(Honking is love, honking is life!) There's a OCs(As main character) in this story and some characters(N Cards from the LL SIF game) i added here for story development. I hope this caught your interest. :D**

 **Feel free to give comments/reactions/guide/critics/etc. i will humbly accept it and use it as stepping stone for improvements. :)**

 **E-Razor Light, Charging Up!**

* * *

Frontal Crisis – School Defendiere Project

Mission 1: The Blondie Transferee

 **-Honoka's POV-**

Today is Tuesday, 3rd week of April. The morning sun begins to shine upon the sky as I wake up. I can even see the ray of sunlight seeping through the curtain of my window, and the morning cold wind is slightly blowing the curtain up, making the room a bit colder. It makes me want to sleep for at least five minutes. I think I'll go to sleep for now…

"Onee-chan! Wake up already! Are you trying to sleep again for five minutes?"

A loud voice of a young girl can be heard outside of the window. By the sound of her voice, I can say that my little sister named Yukiho already predicted that I'm going to sleep again.

"I was not!"

I get up quickly and replied back to her by opening the window and shout back to her.

"Oh~ you're lying. I can clearly see that you're attempting to sleep again."

My younger sister replied back to me, denying my self-defense. She really knows me well, and that makes me pissed off. Look! Even her face expression is ruining my morning mood!

"Yukiho, you're a meanie!"

Geez… arguing to my sister this morning is pointless, it's not even a good thing to start the morning. As I opened the window, I saw the beautiful morning scenery of the sun shining through the entire city, the ray of sunlight seeps through the clouds that scattered across the vast sky, giving a brilliant view. The sunlight feels warm that it melts down the cold atmosphere. I stayed for a while in this place and continued to watch the scene, and then I mumbled to myself.

"Today is going to be a great day...!"

I uttered those words to myself in a low but cheerful tone while letting the cool wind caress my orange hair. I really mean that, this day is going to be great. I can't really explain why, but I can feel it and that's that.

"Onee-chan, you're talking to yourself again!"

And then someone from the outside suddenly breaks my fantasizing here, and I realized that it was Yukiho again.

"I was not! You meanie-head!"

Arguing to my little sister as a start of the day is pointless. I don't know what to do to her…. As I opened the window, beautiful scenery bestowed upon my eyes. The sun shines over the city, and the sunlight seeps over the cloud that gives a brilliant view. The sunlight feels warm enough to melt down the chilling atmosphere. I stayed here in the window for a while to enjoy this beautiful scenery.

"Today is going to be a great day…. I'm pretty sure of it."

I uttered those words in a low tone as the gentle wind caresses my hair, and my hair dance elegantly to the flow of the wind. I really meant what I said; this day is going to be great. No doubt about it. I can't explain it why, but I can feel it. And that's enough reason to believe it.

"Onee-chan, you're talking to yourself again."

And then again, Yukiho ruined my scenery here.

"I was not!"

Geez… my sister really know how to make fun of me. I checked the clock here in my room… it's already four-thirty in the morning. I still have time to prepare for school. I went out of my room and prepared myself for school by taking a bath and then wear my school uniform. Of course, I mustn't leave the house without eating my breakfast, and I know that when it comes to breakfast, bread is always present! Ahh… my day is not complete without consuming bread! My daily bread! Umi-chan might yelled at me again if she hear this…. Ehehehe….

After a few minutes, I finished preparing for school and I just need to eat for breakfast. So I went down the first floor of my house and head straight to the living room where Yukiho was there, eating her breakfast while watching TV. I sat right next to her and grab a two slice of bread. Itadakimasu! I ate the bread in my usual jolly way.

"Man, today's bread is the best!"

"Nuh-uh… sure."

Yukiho replied in a low tone, her eyes are fixated to the TV. What the heck is she's watching anyway?

"As for the international news, a groups from the feared World Terrorists Organization has been sighted in United Kingdom, and they're been chased down and taken care off by the renowned Global Anti-Terrorist Special Force and the pride of Britain, the British Special Air Service, also known as SAS. The scene was intense as the roads of UK turned into a warzone. It is said that the only leader of the said groups remains alive and it is now under the custody of SAS 24th regiment, leaded by 2nd Lieutenant Romeo-06. Thanks to his effort, the threat in UK has been decreased. But nobody knows when these terrorists organization strikes next."

So Yukiho is just watching the world news, and based on my judgment, the world outside of Japan is quite dangerous now. Terrorists are everywhere, but good thing that this Anti-Terrorist Organization is taking care of it. But just as what the news said; when will this terrorist strikes next?

"Kyaa~ Sugoi! Sugoi! Those terrorists are nothing when SAS steps in, especially when Romeo-06 leads it!"

All of a sudden, this little sister of mine begins on praising those special force life a sort of a fan-girl screaming for her favorite celebrity, especially when it comes to this man in a codename Romeo-06. Yukiho sure is a military otaku.

"Eh? What's so special about those guys-"

Before I finish my sentence, a sharp look from her eyes pierce my very soul, leaving me trembling in her stare. Then she quickly approached me and grabbed my shoulder.

"What did you say!? You don't know anything about them!? Don't you know that their force has taken down many terrorists organizations around the world!? And the famous Romeo-06 is the pride of their force! And yet, you don't know anything!? It's in the news Onee-chan!"

"H-help me! I don't know anything about this stuff!"

Yukiho is so scary now, I am no match to her in this kind of argument!

"You're so hopeless Onee-chan…. But if I we're right, Romeo-06 is the youngest of their squad. His age is just around twenty years old. He's too young to be a soldier but too cool! Kyaa~! I wonder what he looks like behind his Gas Mask. I just hope he visit Japan someday and buy some manjus in our shop."

"If ever that person comes, does that mean our country is in trouble? You know, their force goes to the country where terrorists exist?"

That makes sense; I don't see any other reason for that person to visit various countries such as Japan.

"You may be right there Onee-chan, but I think that's okay! Would that be great for us Japanese? To be helped by the other country to exterminate this terrorist, in order to protect us citizens and our future."

"But we have our own force here too. Why do we need a help from other country?"

"Didn't you just hear the news before? They are well-known Anti-Terrorist Force. It's their duty to chase down every trace of enemy that threatens the world. And besides, I kinda want to see him in action up close…!"

What Yukiho said is true, but…. Her second reasoning is obvious reason for her on why she wants that guys to visit our country. Oh Yukiho, you're truly a Military/Gun Otaku.

Anyways, I checked at the time and it's already time to leave. I took a last slice of bread, took my school bag and wore my shoes, and finally went outside. I saw my mother watering our plants for this morning.

"I'm going to school now."

I said my last words to my mother before I left the house. I dashed off as I head pass the Awaji, a lower part neighborhood of Chidoya in Tokyo. This is a town with many pre-war buildings that still stands up until now. This place is really old and holds such history, but I love this place because this is where I was born and raised.

My name is Kousaka Honoka, a Second Year High School student of Otonokizaka Academy. Currently, our school is on the verge of shutting down due to the low applicants of students enrolling to our school. I love Otonokizaka Academy because this is where my mother and my grandmother graduated. It's also a sentimental place for me because it feels that home whenever I go to school. That's why I won't let the school to be closed down! Me and my childhood friends Kotori-chan and Umi-chan decides together to be a school idol, which is famous around these days. Our group hasn't been official yet since we just started yesterday. But we're doing our best to attract more students for our school.

* * *

After those running, I arrived at Akihabara, the center part of Tokyo. Tall buildings and infrastructures can be seen, lots of people are here too. They walk around the Akihabara and enjoy the beautiful atmosphere. It's so lively, compare to my hometown. The Otonokizaka is just further away, and I still have enough time. That's why I decide to kill some time by strolling around the Akihabara.

"Hmmm… Where should I go for now…?"

I mumbled to myself, I want to kill some time but I can't think of something worth doing. I looked around Akihabara, so many people around here passing by. On the other side of the street, I found a food stand where they sell crepes. I know! I'll just buy a delicious strawberry crepe before I head to school! Yup! That would be great! So I crossed the street and head fast towards that food stand.

"One Strawberry Crepe please!"

Finally, I can eat a delicious crepe again! It's the best food here in Akihabara. I wait for the food to be prepared.

"Here you go."

"Thank you!"

Wow, it really looks delicious! Time to chow it down! I took a soft bite on the crepe, and all of a sudden, the sweetness of strawberry and cream rushes inside my mouth. Wow…. It tastes really sweet and delicious! This crepe is really is my second to the favorite food, the number one is the bread!

I'm done here. It's time to head to school! I walked towards the school, but suddenly…

"Ouch!"

"Aah!"

A strong force suddenly hits me and made me lose my balance, making me fell to the ground; I still don't know where that came from because that force made me dizzy. I'm trying to pick up my sense due to that falling from the ground.

"Ouchie…."

"A-are you okay lady? Stand up. C'mon, I can't stand if you're pinning me down like that."

Someone is calling me and asking me to stand up, thought I'm still picking up my sense. Suddenly, There's this guy looking at me straight into my eyes, and i did the same thing to him. Our eyes gazed at each other for a few seconds. Since i'm still feel a bit dizzy, i can't help myself but to remained looking at this guy. After a few seconds, I finally regained my sense. I found out that I accidentally bumped on this guy and we both fell to the ground…..but…. wait, what….? Eh!? This position…! No! I just fell right through his crouch! Not just that, my crepe…. My delicious crepe…. it was accidentally squeezed right after we fall and it as sprayed all over his clothes and my face! This position is embarrassing! Every people passing by are looking right at us two, they might start thinking a dirty thoughts about us two! I quickly get up from that position and got pissed off to him.

"Hey! Watch where you going, you stranger! "

"What? It's not my fault here. You're the one who suddenly dashed from nowhere."

The strange man replied in a strong sound of his voice. He also stands up and wiped the mess around his clothes.

I looked at him closer. Short yet blond hair color, turquoise-colored eyes, one-side hairstyle, a bit pale skin tone and he's taller than me that my height is just on his eyes level. By his looks, I can see that he's a foreigner. I'll show this guy who's the boss around here!

"YOU are the one who bumped on me, and you're not looking at your way!"

"So you saw me that I'm not looking at the way, and yet you still bumped on me. Does that make it clear that it's your fault?"

What!? How dare this guy talk to me like that! He's just a should respecting us Japanese people!

"You talk to me like that, yet you're just a foreigner here? You should pay respect to us Japanese!"

"Tch…. Annoying orange…."

The strange guy talked back at me like that, and then he looked away as if he's not taking me seriously! This guy drives me crazy in a bad way!

"What!?You meanie-head!"

I want to argue to him more, to show this jerk the error of his ways, but….

"Waaahh! I just realized that I still have a class! I have to go now, fast!"

I just realized that I still have a morning class to attend! I don't have time to waste on that guy. I ran again as fast as I can so that I can still catch up from the class. Hope that I can make it in time. Grrrr…. This is all the fault of that guy!

After a few minutes of running, I finally arrived at Otonokizaka Academy. But I don't have time to chat and mingle about it, the class might start now! I'm going to be late! I head towards my locker to change my shoes, and then I dashed off towards my class, ignoring the "No Running!" sign on the bulletin board. I finally reached my classroom! I quickly slide the door as the door opens.

"Ohayou! Sorry I'm late!"

I'm still trying to catch my breath as I greet. Everyone in the class looked at me. Kotori and Umi are there. I can see that the teacher was there too. is the class started already?

"Ms. Kousaka, you're late. The class is about to start now, so you may take your seat."

"I'm sorry…."

I apologized and went to my seat. I'm hungry now…. All those energies that I got from eating bread are gone just like that. Well, at least I made it in time, so I guess I should be thankful for it. Still, so many things unfortunate things happened to me. I feel like I want to go home and stuff my face in the pillow so that I could forget everything that happened today.

* * *

Several hours passed away, and the class ended already. Lunchtime has finally come! And when it comes to lunchtime, I can buy bread again!

But before that, me, Umi-chan and Kotori-chan went to the office of student council, for the purpose of asking a permission to use the school auditorium for our first live show. Although, Umi-chan and Kotori-chan didn't know about this plan of mine, so they thought that we're not yet prepared yet for the live show. The school council president saw through our argument over that, so she was about to reject our request. But the student council vice-president pointed out something to the president, regarding to the rules of using the auditorium. In the end, the president approved our request. Yay! And it is all thanks to the vice president!

Our objective here is done. At last! It's time to eat my precious bread! I went to the side of the school where the three of us used to eat our lunch together. But now it's just me and Umi-chan. That doesn't matter, as long as i can eat my bread, that's all what matters to me. Umi-chan was nagging me again about what I said in the school council office, but meh…. I just simply ignore it and show off my derp face stuffed with bread in my mouth.

"You're eating bread again?"

A woman with a long navy-blue hair asked that kind of question to me. The girl's name is Sonoda Umi, my childhood friend.

"My family runs a sweet shop, so i can't eat a bread like this in our shop."

"But you haven't eaten your lunch yet. You're going to get fat."

I just ignore her warning and continued on chowing down my bread. Umi-chan got fed up in the end and sit right next to me. I know that she's concern about my health, but what can i do? It's not that easy to resist eating your favorite food like that.

"By the way, you were late in our morning class today. Did you oversleep again?"

"Oh? That? Ah... i didn't oversleep. I-it's just that the start of my day is not that good..."

Thinking about what happened to me this morning makes me want to on a rage. I just stuffed my bread fast while sulking.

"That blondie foreigner... How dare he waste my good food? Not just that, he even called me 'Annoying Orange' and fall the blame on me... What a meanie-head!"

"Blondie foreigner? Annoying Orange? What do you mean?"

Umi-chan asked me once again. She still has no clue on what happened to me. I guess i should tell her now.

"A foreign guy with a blonde hair bumped on me while i was heading to school."

"Oh..."

"And not just that, he just wasted my precious crepe! He even put me on a embarrassing scene!"

Seriously i'm still annoyed at that part. it makes my voice sounds angry, and well... I'm really angry now.

"That's embarrassing! B-but... since you said that he's as a foreigner, could it be it was just an accident?"

The blue-haired girl asked. What?! Is Umi-chan siding on him?

"What?! How can you say that Umi-chan? That guy is a meanie-head! He appeared from nowhere and wastes my food! Plus he even called me Annoying Orange! How rude!"

"Calm down Honoka! Just like what you said, he's a foreigner. He might be new here and having a hard time on adapting himself in Japan."

"B-but Umi-chan...!"

"You're just overreacting because of what happened to your food again. I can see it clearly, just calm down okay? It's not like you can see him every day."

The blue-haired pointed that out on me. Now that i think about it, Umi-chan has a point out there. Thought hearing that overacting because of food stings me. I took another bread from my pocket and begin to eat it again. That's right! Eat the stress away!

"You're going to eat bread again Honoka? Geez, you're really going to get fat..."

"Yeah i know."

Once again, I ignored her warning. I've had enough on hearing it anyway. After our conversation, three girls appeared and greet us two. These three are second years and we're in a same classroom. The first one is Hideko, she has a ginger-colored short hair. The short one with an ash-brown colored hair is Mika. Her hair is short yet fixed in small twintails. The last girl with a purple hair fixed in pony tails is Fumiko. The trio came to ask me about the first live show that we're planning up, since they said that they saw that on post that Kotori made. Umi was puzzled about what we we're talking about, so she asked me what's going on. I forgot to tell her this... and so, I told her that we posted already about our live shows. Of course, she was shocked about it because she hasn't informed about it before. My bad...

* * *

Several minutes passed after Umi-chan found it out, me and the blue-haired are walking around the corridor, heading to our classroom. And while we we're heading there, Umi-chan is mad at me not just because i didn't let her know that plan, but we're rushing ourselves by putting the schedule of live show this month. The blue-haired girl keeps on nagging me about it, telling to me that I think too optimistic about the live show. Somewhat I feel really bad about that.

We finally reached the classroom. I see some of my classmates are not here, because the classroom has fewer students. I guess everyone is being busy during lunch times. Nevertheless, the two of us entered the room and we saw a girl sitting right behind Umi-chan's desk. The girl has a long and ash-grey colored hair, with some part of her hair fixed in long side pony tail with green ribbon. She has captivating honey-colored eyes. She was holding a sketchpad and a pen, and some of the crayons and pastels are scattered around her table. By the looks of it, she was probably sketching on something. This girl is Kotori Minami, my other childhood friend and the one who made a poster about our first live show.

"Maybe this'll work..."

The ash-grey haired uttered those words while sketching, and she looks serious about it.

"Kotori?"

Umi-chan called her name to get her attention, wondering what our childhood friend's doing.

"Yeah! I think I'll go with it! Look! I designed a stage costume!"

Kotori-chan raised her sketchpad forward, declaring that she finished her drawing. Then she showed her sketch to us two. Wow...! This will be our stage costume!?

"Oh! This looks adorable!"

My eyes sparkles in amazed on how Kotori-chan designed our stage costume! This is what the real idols wear! Kotori sure is great at costume designing!

"You think so? The curve line here will be difficult to pull off, but I'll try my best to make it."

"Sound good!"

While the two of us are having a conversation, Umi-chan is still looking at her design in a curious manner.

"Kotori?"

"What do you think Umi-chan?"

The ash-grey haired called Umi-chan for a comment on her design, showing the sketches closer to her. But she was still staring at it, like she was looking at it from head to toe. Why is Umi-chan having a hard time to give a comment?

"Right here... These lines extending down are...?"

"Legs!"

The blue-haired pointed out something on the sketch, asking what that part is. Then Kotori-chan gave her a straight answer that makes her feels surprised by it. Geez... can she figure out that it was a leg part? Even everyone can simply point it out.

"We're supposed to wear a short skirt and keep our legs bare?"

"Just like an idol!"

What Kotori said is true. Idols do singing and dancing, so it is really necessary to wear such skirts. As Kotori gave another straight answer to Umi, the blue-haired averted her sight to us and fixed it on her legs, checking her legs in different angle. Does she think that she's getting fat now? She's physically disciplined, so I don't think that she's getting fat!

"Don't worry!"

I leaned my hands on her legs while looking at her closer. Then she gave a surprised expression to what I did.

"Umi-chan, your legs aren't that fat."

"You should be worrying about yourself!"

I tried to encourage Umi-chan that her legs are not that fat. But seems that didn't work, and instead, she retaliated to it and said that I should be worrying about myself. Come to think of it, am I getting fat now? It made me curious, and thought that I should check myself if I'm gaining fat.

I checked my waist line by squeezing it with my hand, from my waist down to my hips and thighs... hmmm... I squeezed it again but this time, i started from my thigh up to my waist... hmmm...

"Yosh! Time to go on a diet!"

I declared it to myself. I'm getting fat now, so i think it's time to burn this fat and go on a diet. Thought Umi-chan does make her annoyed to it.

"I think you two are going to be fine."

"There's still a lot of things we have to do, like on how going to make signatures and how are we going to disguise in public."

"We don't have to do that."

The blue-haired opposed to what i said. Geez... Umi-chan sure knows how to put me down...

"More importantly... we haven't decided on our group name yet."

The ash-grey haired pointed that out, which made us stunned and surprised that we reacted "oohhh." in a full-sync. Come to think of it, what Kotori-chan said is true! We still don't have a group name yet! That's even more important than other things! How are we going to have a very first live show if we haven't decided a group name for us three!? Aaarrrgghh...! This is troublesome! We have to think our group name fast!

* * *

 **-Marcus's POV-**

 ** _Monday. April 21, 20XX_**

 ** _Location: Narita International Airport (Tokyo, Japan)_**

 ** _Arrival Time: 10:25(GMT09:00 Japan Time zone)_**

 ** _Marcus Raine Wallcroft_**

"What a cozy ride…."

Those words slipped out from my mouth after taking a long flight. Followed by a deep sigh, I slightly stretched my arms and rotate my right shoulder as I take off from the passenger plane. I didn't know that riding on a passenger plane for more an hour gives an eerie and uncomfortable feeling.

"All passengers arrived in Japan; please proceed to Gate 2 to claim your luggage. I repeat…"

Loud voice from the ceiling speakers echoed throughout the building, repeating that announcement for a second time. It says that we should head to Gate 2 to claim our luggage. I slide the left sleeve of my dark green jacket and check at my wrist watch. What time is it now?

"10:30, standard military time. Monday, 3rd week of April."

Oh, so today is the 3rd week of April, and its Monday. I bet those folks are working their way out from the hellish ' _Sunshine Workloads'_ againwell, good luck to them. Anyways, I am here at the Narita International Airport, located at Tokyo, Japan. The atmosphere here is so cold as if I'm going to have a cold or fever now. Even my jacket with a fur on its collar part is no match for it. Does the atmosphere here is as cold as this? I should head to Gate 2 now to get my luggage and get out of this freezing place. I went to the Gate 2 and saw a conveyor belt on the middle of the place. Tons of bags and luggage are placed in there, waiting for the owner to claim it. I looked at my bag if it's there already. Wait…. That backpack must be mine, so I approach the conveyor belt and checked that bag. It really is my bag, that bag that is supposed to be used by mountaineers, but it's a different case to me. I took my backpack with me and walked towards the exit door. I was just a step away from the door, but….

"Welcome to Japan, the land of rising sun~!"

Two girls wearing a steward's attire welcomed me with warm-hearted smiles. Their smiles and hospitality somewhat ease my coldness.

"O-oh, thanks for your warm welcome..."

I blushed a bit at first since I'm not used to be greeted like this. I thank them and give a smile back at those two. A smile is necessary to express your gratitude and appreciation to one's effort, at least that's what the other says back then. I guess giving a smile for today is fine, But…. Am I really capable to do that often?

At last, out of the freezer place. I went outside of airport since I'm done with that freezer. The sun shines upon the blue skies, giving warm light throughout the city of Tokyo, followed by a cool breeze of winds that blows away your stress. It feels great…. This nostalgic feeling…. It's like in my homeland.

"At last, I am here now in Japan. The place you want to go…. Aria…."

Uttering those words, I looked up in the blue horizons of sky. I still can't believe that I'm standing now in the soil of Japan, the place that she dreamed to visit because of some good reasons that I barely remember. Nevertheless, I'm sure she can see what I see now. Let's just see it for ourselves.

"Welcome to the land of rising sun."

A voice of a girl can be heard. I looked around to see where that voice came from, but someone is approaching me from behind. I turned my head to that person and I found that the voice came from that person. It's a girl, and if I'm not mistaken, she is just around at my age, thought that her height is just above my shoulder. Her hair is as black as the night sky, fixed in a pony tail hairstyle. Her emerald-colored eye reminds me of expensive gems from the jewelry back then. The way she walk and her attire, she's wearing a standard officer type military uniform and a green beret. Wait! Military uniform….. Could it be she's…?

"I am Corporal Sayuri Hyoudo from the Japanese Self-Defense Force. I was assigned by the Japanese National Intelligence to be in-charge in your mission planning. It's nice to meet you, 2nd Lieutenant Marcus Raine Wallcroft!"

The girl introduced herself in an energetic tone, offering a handshake to me with a wide smile on her face. I'm impressed to see a military person who can smile like this, thought it's not that surprising because it reminds me of….. Never mind that. Anyway, she must be the "pick-up/informant girl" that Alice referred to me before I get here.

"I see… you got me there huh? I am indeed Marcus. I guess we'll be partners for now."

I replied to her as I take her handshake offer. Having a partner again after a long time is kinda nostalgic. Guess it's also a good way to build friendship from other country.

"Our vehicle is waiting, we should get going now."

"Sure thing. Lead the way."

The two of us walked towards the automobile, the vehicle that she mentioned before. Mazda-3, that's the car's unit name, four seated, color black. Nice car, if I must say. She has taste on picking a car. Sayuri will drive the car, so she'll be seating on the right side of the car, while I'll be on the left side. I put my things on the back trunk and headed on the left seat of the car. Everything is ready now, so she started the car engine by inserting the key on the keyhole below the steering wheel. By twisting the key clockwise, the car engine started, which can be heard in a smooth sound, and then the Ebony-haired woman stepped on the gas pedal. Engine roared and the tires of the car began to roll through the solid and asphalted road as the car begin to move from slow to fast speed, leaving nothing but dust on its way.

* * *

We are now traveling to Tokyo city, the central city of Japan. Tall building and structured are standing firmly here, some of these buildings have screen attached to it for advertisements of products and service. Too bad I still can't read Japanese of people can also be seen walking on the side streets. This kind of atmosphere keeps the city alive, as expected from Japan, which is one of the countries with well-grown economics. The car rolls on the streets, but later stopped at one of the traffic lights because of the red lights flashing on the traffic light, which indicates 'Stop'. While we wait for Go signal, I was looking at the side window, to see the beauties of Tokyo. But something caught my attention. There's a wide area in there where lots of people are gathering. There's a huge monitor attached on one of the buildings closer in that area too. Most of the people there are teenage girls wearing their respective school uniforms and they're from various schools. But what are they doing there? I looked at the monitor and I saw three girls on it, wearing some fancy attire. All of a sudden, those school girls screamed from joy as the moment that those three girls appeared and started to dance. It seems that those three are celebrity or something. I watched their dance for a while….

 _Yeah, are you leaving?_

 _I'm not gonna chase after you_

 _Basically, I hate creating crowds_

 _I'm someone who understands the pain of loneliness_

 _Sometimes we trade words_

 _and think of each other at our own places_

 _Boosting up each other's day_

 _The way they dance… it's quite sparkle with every move they make, and their smile is filled with passion._

 _What'cha do what'cha do? I do "Private Wars"_

 _Hey, get a hold of justice and be sly_

 _What'cha do what'cha do? I do "Private Wars"_

 _Hey, life's got a bit of courage and passion, doesn't it?_

 _Can I do? I take it, baby! Can I do? I make it, baby!_

 _Can I do? I take it, baby! Can I do? I make it, baby!_

"They're good at dancing….."

I unconsciously uttered those words while watching at them. I won't deny it. They're quite good; they don't even break a sweat. No wonder they have many fans. Of course, they won't be celebrities if they're not good at this job.

I averted my sight away from them as I focused on the road, with a stern face expression. I don't have time to watch those things, I didn't come here for that. But…. Knowing their group doesn't hurt a bit. Afterall, Alice might like those kinds of things

"You must be wondering what those girls are, am I correct?"

All of a sudden, the ebony-haired girl asked me that question. What? How did she find that out?

"Hmmm…. Kinda. Who are those anyways?"

"They are known as School Idols."

"Idols?"

"Yeah, they are idols formed within the school. They are sort of talented celebrities in the school. Those girls you saw are A-RISE, School Idols formed in UTX academy."

"A-RISE…..I see…. School Idols huh….?"

So they are referred as School Idols. So things like that exist here? I can hardly imagine that.

"Don't worry. You'll understand more about them as you live your life here. Who knows, you might fall from one of them."

"What was that supposed to be mean…?"

"Nothing~!"

This girl…. Is she making fun of me or what? What does she mean by that?

"By the way, here…"

The ebony-haired is holding a folder and she's going to give it to me. I took it and open afterwards.

"What is this anyway?"

"It contains some important documents that you need in order to be _registered and assigned_ on that it and check if you see fit for you."

She explained it to me without averting her eyes on the road. I did what she said and read what's on the folder one by one, word by word, checking every details of if it see fit for it. After reading it, I asked this question to myself; am I really going to complete this mission?

"Do I really have to do this? It's kinda… sudden to be given such task like this."

"Of course you must. That's why you're here y'know. You are specialized on this, right? I'm sure carrying it is just a piece of cake for you."

She said it to me, her words are true. I can't deny it. But that's not the case. It's like….how should I explain this….. a certain situation that only guy could understand….

"B-but…"

I tried to retaliate to what she said. I still feel kinda reluctant to that mission.

"What? You can't do it? They send you here because you are their pride? To be indecisive like this…. Where is that pride now?"

The ebony-haired said those insulting words to me. What did she said? That stings! It's what the commander said to me back then. Don't slap those absurd words such as Pride to me. I don't want to hear that words again!

"Fine, I'll do it. Do I really have a second option out there?"

I replied and rolled me eyes away from the road due to that annoying word she said lately. Tch… Screw it. B-but thinking on the other side, I guess it'll be good to take that mission since that it's my second chance to pick up what I left behind before.

"Good~! Don't worry. You're going to like it when you get there anyway."

"I'm not that type of person, so that thing doesn't amuse me."

"Geez…. You act as if you are dead inside."

"You may be right about that."

"Ohhh~"

Yeah right. It's kinda true, I'm dead inside. Good choice of words to define myself. This is what soldiers are, right?

"By the way, where are we going anyway?"

I asked that question to her. We're been on a road trip for a long time and she didn't tell me the destination. I'm starting to feel uncomfortable now. Where are we going anyway?

"We'll be heading to your ' _working place'_ first before going to your staying place."

"To my working place? I see."

I see. So she'll be heading to my so-called-working place huh? Well, I guess it wouldn't to go there now. As the car continues to travel, our situation here is filled with silence. Sayuri is focused on the road, while I'm just looking at the people and buildings that we're passing by. I'm starting to feel kinda sleepy now. Maybe I'll just doze off a bit…. But as I begin to close my eyes, the ebony-haired suddenly stopped the car. The sudden shake of the car took away my sleep. Why did she suddenly stop anyway?

"We're here."

"What?"

She stopped and parked the car at the left side of the road. The road is wide anyway, so I think it's safe to park here. I looked around the place where we stopped. I can only see a wide stairs at the right side of the road, with flowers arranged on the lower part of the stairs. Red, blue and green flowers are nicely arranged in there. The stairs is wide and kinda long, what's up there is something that you must see for yourself. I'm curious, but that can wait for later. On the left side of the road is a wide park. There's a lot of Cherry Blossoms Tree out there. Falling petals are blown apart from that park to our place where we are. The petals dance elegantly as the wind carries it to some unknown place.

"This place is beautiful, isn't it?"

She asked it to me, but this time, she's kinda different in a way.

"Yeah, sure it is."

"By the way, you see that stairs on the right?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Up there is the place where you'll be assigned."

"Up there huh?"

I draw my attention to that stairs. What lies up there anyway? The more I draw my attention to it, the more curious I get. Suddenly, something draws my attention more. As I looked at the stairs, someone came down from there by sliding through the rails of the stair. It's a girl, an orange yet shoulder length-haired girl. Her hair shines brightly like a warm sun, and her eyes is as blue as the blue sky, and she's wearing a white long-sleeve blouse and a stripe blue skirt, probably that's her school uniform. The falling petals from the cherry blossoms blew it again but this time, it's on her direction. The petals dance elegantly along with her hair that caressed by the gentle wind. I hope my eyes are not fooling me around, but I think I'm seeing a goddess right now. At least that's what I can see from this distance, thought I can't see her clearly. She went to the flowers arranged at the side of stairs and picked one of those flowers. The girl placed that freshly-picked flower to the left side of her ear, which makes her beautiful. But that's not the case here! The following event is what catches my attention here. The cars are passing by at us at moderate speed, but all of a sudden, she dances energetic while crossing the road, ignoring the pedestrian traffic light with a flashing red signal and she's totally evading the cars through dancing! What the hell is she doing!? Come on! Have she lost her mind? Dancing while crossing on a red signal is totally insane! It's a violation of road rules! Jaywalking! That leaves me gaping my mouth like a sort of a dumb. The next thing I'd realize is….. Sayuri is watching at me the whole time, with a teasing stare.

"W-what do you want?"

I asked her with a bit stuttering voice.

"Fufufu~ It seems that you're captivated by that girl."

The ebony-hair replied without changing her teasing stare at me. Wait…. What!?

"T-that's not true!"

I cleared my throat and went back to my old and stern-looking self, averting my eyes away from her.

"You can't hide it from me; your face says it all."

"Who wouldn't be surprised after seeing a girl crossing the road insanely?"

"Who knows~"

And again, she's teasing me another time. She's wrong! It's not like what she thinks. It's just that I'm shocked to see those kinds of scenery. Maybe Japanese school girls are like that, I'm in a cultural shock I guess.

"But I think it's a good thing you see that…."

I heard a faint voice from Sayuri, thought that I didn't hear it clearly.

"Huh? You said something?"

"No, nothing at all~ anyway, we're done here. It's up to you to see what's beyond that stairs. The rest is up to you to see it."

"Right. I'll check it when I feel it. Let's get going now."

"Okay~"

Once again, the ebony-haired girl started the engine for the second time and the car begin to move away from the area, leaving nothing but a dust in the road and my curiosity about beyond that stairs. I'll just see it through myself if the time comes. The two of us are going to the place where i'll be staying at.

* * *

An hour has passed from road travel, the ebony-haired suddenly slowed down the car speed and parked the car at the side of the street, which is a vacant parking lot, and then the two of us went out of the car. What lies beyond me is a large building.

"Here we are now Marcus-san."

She announced as she pointed out the large building that i saw lately. The building is quite wide, a five-storey building with numerous rooms from each floors. It looks like a prestigious condo unit. So this is where i'll be staying now.

"So this is it huh...Quite impressive structure."

I replied back while looking at the building. Before we head there, i opened the trunk at the back of the car to get my backpack. After packing up, the two of us went inside of the building. We walked to the hallway of the ground floor until we reached a steel-coated door with a UP button to be found at the side of the door. Judging from the looks, i can say that this is an elevator. Near the elevator, another door can be found, but this time, it's not a steel-coated door but rather, an ordinary brown door with a door knob. I'm pretty sure what's inside there is a stairs that can be used if the elevator is unavailable. Of course we are using the elevator now, i don't feel climbing my way up there using stairs. Cut me some slack, i'd say. I pressed the UP button and the elevator door opened, then the two of us entered. Sayuri pressed something in one of the buttons that can be found inside the elevator. It must be the floor that we're going at. The thick door begin to closed and i felt some slight of shake from the door, which means that we're taking up now. Aura of silence and awkwardness shrouded inside of elevator, no one of us is starting a conversation. The ebony-haired began to hum a song in a low tone, while here i am just looking at the shiny side of the elevator, i can see my reflection from it. This is getting awkward... should i start a conversation to kill this silence?

 ***TING***

Before i think a way to start a conversation, i felt a sudden shake from the elevator as if it stopped. It seems that we reached the designated floor. After a few seconds, the door opened and a petite girl is standing at the other side of the door. This little girl has scarlet eyes and black hair that is as same as Sayuri's hair,thought her hair is fixed in side pony tail. As the moment the girl saw me, she slowly stepped back and began to tremble as if she's afraid of ? Do I look scary or what?

"What's wrong kid?"

I asked those words to the kid, but i get no response from her.

"Looks like this kid is scared of you Marcus-san. Too bad~"

"Do I really look scary?"

"In the eyes of a kid, you really are scary~"

"Was that supposed to be a joke to laugh at?"

That words she says left a sting on me. I'm not that scary-looking. Maybe she's afraid because i'm a foreigner. I fixed my sight to the little girl as i approached and kneel in front of her. Then I pulled something inside of my jacket, a silver-colored container that is just a size of my hand. Its kinda looks like a mini-box. I opened the box afterwards and a calming melody starts to play, like what you hear from the music box. There's a branded chocolate bars arranged nicely inside of it too. I offered those chocolates to the kid.

"Hey there kid, you want some chocolates? Go on, pick one."

I said it to her and smiled kindly while offering my branded chocolates to her. At least in this way, i can lessen up her fright towards me. I referred this as bribery. The little girl is amused as she looked at the chocolates. She looked at me and then she looked at the chocolates again. The girl is hesitating at first, but after a few seconds, she decided to take one chocolate bar on it. Looks like it worked somehow.

"Thank you Mister...!"

The girl thanked me as she bow down her head and run inside the elevator. The elevator door closed, cutting off the sight between us two.

"Ohhh~ i didn't know you have your own way to handle a kids like that."

The ebony-haired girl said, she's quite amused at what i did.

"Nah. It's just normal to me, nothing to amuse at."

"Chocolate-O Bribery~! I'll take that into your account."

"Never mind that, let's go already."

"Lolicon..."

I heard a faint voice from her. I didn't hear it well, but it sounds like an insult. This girl is really enjoying at making fun of me and acts like we're buddies. She starts to walk first, guiding me to the room where i'm going to stay at. I put back the silver container back to my jacket and followed her afterwards. The two of us are walking to the corridor now. There are many doors aligned on these corridor. We continued to walk around these corridor until Sayuri stopped at the door we passed by. I think this must be the room. Sayuri pulled a key from her pocket and opened the door by inserting the key into the keyhole located besides the doorknob.

 ***CLICK***

The door opened. Sayuri grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. Then she entered the room first, followed by me. I placed my things beside the door after entering the room.

"Ta-dah~! This is where you're living from now on! So, how does it look?"

She asked me those words, thought i can't give her a straight answer yet. I roamed around the room first. As you enter the room, you can see another door at the right side that leads to the kitchen and bathroom. From the kitchen, you can see the utensils that was nicely arranged. There's also a fridge placed in there. Back to the entrance, if you continue walking forward around eight to ten steps, you will reach the living room, which is spacious enough for one or two persons. There is also a balcony in there too, which you can see the view of city from here. The living room has a small Japanese-style table in the middle, with four small circular pillows placed on the sides of it, which is used for sitting. There's no televisions here in the living 's another door I noticed on the right side of the living room, but i'll check that later. I went to the balcony for sightseeing. From here, i enjoyed viewing the grand view of Tokyo. Cold and gentle wind blows towards me, caressing my blonde hair. While sightseeing, Sayuri approached and stands besides me as she also looked at the lively city.

"The view here is nice, isn't it?"

"Yeah, i don't deny that. You have a good taste at picking a place like this."

I agreed to her then i took a deep breath. What she said is true, Japan is really a nice place. I guess being here is not a bad idea after all.

"Tee-hee! I'm glad you like it!"

She suddenly smiled cutely at me. That made me blushes a bit. What's with this girl? Acting cutely as if she's like a high schooler? I just looked away from her

"This is used to be my room back then. I just moved in to another place last week."

"Is that so? Then why did you choose to leave this place?"

"Well, that's a secret~"

The ebony-haired replied to my question, thought that wasn't really an answer to it.

"I guess this concludes my tour guide to you Marcus."

"Yeah, but i'm sure we'll meet again when the operation started. We're partners for now."

"Mhm! I'll keep in touch with you when the operation comes!"

I said it and then offered a handshake to her once again. She nodded and accepted the handshake. Our eyes meet each other as our hands stays connected through handshake. After that, the ebony-haired walked towards the door, waving her hand towards me and finally went out, leaving me alone here. This concludes my first meeting with Sayuri. This is just the beginning, more things will happen from here on. I'll just thread this things like i usually do back then.

I picked up my backpack and went to the door at the right side of the living room, opening it. As i thought, it was a room. As i enter the room, i can see the single-person bed at my left part of the room right next to the curtained the left side of the room, there's a large cabinet placed in there. There's a study table with a mini lamp that can be found next to the design of the room is just plain normal. Not girlish, considering that Sayuri lives here before. I guess she doesn't like those sort of things. Well, i think this room is fine for me.

I placed my backpack on the side of the bed and laid down to the bed without removing my jacket. In a lying down position, i faced the ceiling and stared blankly at it. Staring it makes me think about the sudden turn of events happened back then. It's like i was still in the operation yesterday, but now i'm on the other side.

"To think i'll be thrown out in a place like this just for that. With this, i'll be able to pick up the pace that i left before... "

Those words slipped out from my thoughts to my mouth, while staring blankly at the ceiling. I'll never thought that this would happen. Better stop thinking about it and just accept the fact that i'm here now. I turned to my right as i tried to clear my thoughts. Suddenly, my eyes started to wear out and my vision is slowly become dim. My conscious to this world is slowly fading. Maybe i'm tired for this day, I'm going to sleep now.

It's been an hours since i drowned myself from slumber, silence filled the atmosphere which gives me a peace of mind. While i'm sleeping peacefully, something just crossed my mind... no... not this again...i don't want to remember it again...!

 _Running... I'm running as fast as I can do. The world is loud and rigid, gunpowder stained the air, explosions from nowhere turned-out the atmosphere as the bloody war continues. Exchanging bullets from each other is the competition here, and whoever got hit by these bullets of terror will lose the battle, and to lose the battle means to lose the life as well. I was running away and dodging every bullets that flies straight through me. I left my comrade back there because they asked me to leave and seek reinforcements. I want to retaliate from those attacks, i want to help them, i want to use my Assault Rifle against the enemies, but i can't do it because an order is an order. I also found myself carrying someone. A friend... a dear friend... and companion of mine. He eyes is covered with her hair strands and the half of her body is soaked in scarlet blood. Even the world is loud due to the sound of gunshots and explosions, i can still hear her breath... She's breathing heavily... breathing heavily as if she was in a verge of death, trying to cling for her life. Blood spews from her mouth as she cough. Is she's going to die? No... don't die... not now... stay alive...I'll save your from this hell...! Nooo!_

"NO!"

I suddenly rise up from my deep slumber, stretching out my left hand to the ceiling as if I'm reaching out someone I that I can't. My body is covered in cold sweat, and my body is slightly trembling from fear. Next thing that I realize is that I'm having a nightmare again...Same as before... this is always happening to me ever since i came back from that hell place.

"I'm sorry..."

This is the only thing I could say to them, but it was too late. When I think about it, this might be my punishment from before, to leave them back there and let them die. So I don't have a choice but to carry this burden from the rest of my life. I checked my wrist watch again to see what time is it now.

"05:30 AM. Looks like I've oversleep for almost 24 hours..."

Looks like I've overslept again. I just remembered, I'm here in japan and just came here yesterday. Now I'm here in one of the condo unit rooms that they lend it for me to stay. My head hurts a bit for oversleeping, but I need to start my day now. I get up on my bed and went to the kitchen to brew up some fresh coffee. After that, I headed to the balcony to get some fresh air. Perfect timing, the morning sun is slowly rising up from the vast clouds, it's warm and radiant ray of light shines upon the city. As expected from the land of the rising sun, the sunrise here is beautiful. I went sightseeing this morning while taking a sip from my fresh coffee, at the same time, I was also thinking that maybe i should start my first day here by strolling around the will help me to get used on living here. I prepared myself from that plan by taking a morning shower which took me around thirty-to-forty minutes to finish. After shower, I went to my room and checked my large backpack to get my casual attire to wear. I picked a white shirt as my upper garment and black fitting jeans for my lower garment. I also grabbed my black hooded jacket as an additional upper garment. As for the shoes, i'll just wear the shoes that i wore yesterday. After thirty minutes of preparation, I'm all set to go now. Since there's no food here, I'll just deal with that outside. I took my pair of white headphones that my little sister gave me before as present.

"All set. I'm going out now."

I went out of my room and locked the door. Then I went down to the ground floor, and of course, I took the elevator instead of stairs since I don't feel like going down through stairs. Upon reaching ground floor, I left this place and head outside. I'll be back by afternoon or evening, depending on the situation.

* * *

Thirty-to-Forty minutes has been passed since I left my area and decide to stroll around, and now here I am in one of the streets in Akihabara. All I can say is... this place is so lively. Lots of people are coming here, tall buildings with colorful lighting and advertising screens can also be found here.I was amazed by this place, it's so lively. It's like a whole new world. Alice said that Akihabara is the heart of Tokyo City. She's not lying when she said that, and seeing this with my own eyes, i can say that her Intel is solid. It's true.

I walked around the city and looking around it's grand beauty, while listening to the music coming through my headphone. The noise coming from the atmosphere is loud enough to interrupt the loudness of the music through my headphone. Even so, I ignored the loud noise of the crowd and continued to walk forward. But something caught my attention and made me stopped to where I'm standing 's a large advertising monitor attached in a tall building. Beyond this building, there are people gathering around here, most of them are students from various schools. Oh wait, to be exactly right, lots of them are schoolgirls. These students are kinda excited on something because they are screaming and giggling each other. What's this all about anyway?I stayed and wait if something will appear on this monitor since my curiosity got me good. After a minutes of waiting, three teen girls appeared on the screen. These girls are wearing a fancy and frilly clothing. Kinda like a celebrities or something.

 _"Hello everyone! We are the School Idols of UTX, A-RISE! Come join us!"_

The petite-looking girl with short hair introduced their group and it seems that they're advertising their school. After those three speak, these schoolgirls around me suddenly screamed in sync. What's with these-wait! This scenery... and these girls on the monitor, I think I saw this too yesterday... let me just try to recall it... Got it. I saw them too yesterday on one of the advertising monitors when Sayuri and I are heading to the place i'm staying now.

"So they are A-RISE huh? I think they are called themselves as School Idols... School Idols..."

School Idols... Those words struck on my head and whenever i think of that, i felt something unusual that i can't really explain. This is weird... gah. Better not think about things like School Idols. But maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea if i gather some information about this UTX. I turned my back and started to walk again, leaving that area behind while thinking about how i can get information about this UTX, that was until...

"Here sir, please take one~!"

"Hm?"

A woman wearing in maid uniform stands up in front of me, and she's giving me something. I looked at what she's giving with a stern look... a pamphlet. What's with this pamphlet?

"It's a pamphlet. Your girlfriend might be interested to enroll at UTX. You can give this to her!"

Ah? It's a pamphlet about UTX? Good timing. But... I don't have girlfriend. You have mistaken me girl.

"Sorry girl, but I don't have girlfriend. But i'll take it anyway."

"Oops! Sorry sir!"

"It's okay. Thanks for this one."

I took the pamphlet and thanked the girl in maid uniform. She bowed down to me and left me, giving the other copies of UTX pamphlet she was holding. What a nice timing, I'm looking for an information about this academy and then she appeared, holding this piece of information i need. Guess I'm lucky today. I opened the pamphlet and read every details inside of it. From vision, mission, goals and qualities of this academy. And while reading it, i continued to walked forward, ignoring the presence of people around me. I was so fixated on reading the pamphlet, until something unexpected happened...

"Ouch!"

"Aah!"

Someone just suddenly bumped on me. She lost her balance and I was caught off guard by that. Then the two of us felt into the ground. My head hit on the ground hard that I'n starting to feel heavy pain and dizziness from my head. But there's no time for that. I need to get up now... huh? What's this girl doing in my crouch? I can't stand, she's heavy!

"A-are you okay lady? Stand up. C'mon, I can't stand if you're pinning me down like that."

I helped her and told her to stand up because we're causing trouble here on the road. Looking at the situation, her food soiled up my clothes! Now my clothes are messed up. This girl in my crouch slowly opened up her eyes, trying to regain her conscious. I gazed my eyes upon her and same goes to her. Our eyes met each other and remained looking at each other for a few seconds. Five seconds passed... ten seconds passed... still, she's not standing up. I'm suffering here from her weight! All of a sudden, this girl started to panic and stood up fast.

"Hey! Watch where you going, you stranger!"

This girl suddenly started to brag me and blame the fault on me. What? How the heck it is my fault?

"What? It's not my fault here. You're the one who suddenly dashed from nowhere."

I talked back at her, defending myself from her accusation. It is obvious that it's her fault, bumping me from nowhere. I stand up as well and started cleaning the cream that soiled my clothes. Those cream came from her food. Urgh... this is kinda sticky when dried up, better wipe it using my handkerchief. Geez...

"YOU are the one who bumped on me, and you're not looking at your way!"

"So you saw me that I'm not looking at the way, and yet you still bumped on me. Does that make it clear that it's your fault?"

This girl is still denying the fact that it's her fault. I continued to defend myself against her. Who's this girl anyway? Talking to me like that? I looked at this girl. Short haired with a iconic side ponytail, orange-colored hair, blue eyes, her height that is just in the level of my eyes, and she's wearing a school uniform.

"You talk to me like that, yet you're just a foreigner here? You should pay respect to us Japanese!"

And now this girl is bragging about respecting Japanese because I'm a foreigner? What the heck is that reasoning? She's getting annoying.

"Tch….Annoying orange…."

"What!? You meanie-head!"

Hah! Looks like I just hit the nail right on her head. Look at her raging after hearing that word. Her hair is orange-colored, and she's annoying as hell. The name Annoying Orange is a fitting name for her. This girl is still raging from it... stop it already. *sigh* I sounded like a bad guy here, I'll just apologize instead and take all the blame so that this annoying conversation ends. I'm starting to feel ashamed here because we're causing a commotion here. Some people who's just passing by are looking right at us two.

"Look, I-"

"Waaahh! I just realized that I still have a class! I have to go now, fast!"

I was about to apologize to her, but all of a sudden, she went panic and started to run away fast. What the heck is with her? Seriously... Kids these days... Oh well, at least the argument is over now. I apologize to those people who's watching at us, then i picked up the UTX pamphlet that is now messed up by her food. Urgh... what a mess. I wiped out the remaining cream that sticks to my clothes and to the pamphlet. After that, I tried to pick up my pace, but... something is not right here... I looked at my right, then to the left, and then back to the right... damn.

"Where am I... anyway?"

That's the question that came out from my mind, which brings out trouble to me. I hate to admit it, but it looks like I'm lost now. Think, think, think... Try to recall where the last time you went before you lost. Hmmm... first I was in the UTX Building, watching those A-RISE gals... then a woman in maid suit gave me this pamphlet... then I read it while walking... eh? Reading while walking... damn. I'm totally lost because I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. Now here I am standing here like a sort of an idiot. I let out a huge sigh as I brushed up my hair using my right hand as a comb. How am I going to figure the way out of this mess? Man... this is troublesome...

 ***RING RING***

Suddenly, something is ringing inside my left pocket, and it was my phone. Looks like someone is calling, so I picked up my phone out of my pocket and checked it who is that caller.

"Unknown number? Who's this?"

Only a phone number was written on it. Better answer it anyway since it might be important.

"Who's this?"

 _"Ohayou Marcus-san!"_

"O-ohayou...?"

Ohayou? Is that a Japanese greetings for good morning? Putting that aside, this voice... it's Sayuri. I'm saved now. She's the only one I can rely on in this kind of situation.

"Oh good. Sayuri, you're a lifesaver."

I let out a sigh of relief. That made her wonder what's wrong.

 _"Marcus-san, what's wrong?"_

She asked me that question. I took a deep breath afterwards. Alright, i'll tell her the whole situation that I'm in now. About how I got lost because of lack of attention to surroundings and how I ended up arguing to an orange-haired student. Hope she won't laugh at me, but as far as I know about her, I bet she'll laugh at me after hearing this.

* * *

 **-Umi's POV-**

Clear the thoughts, empty the mind, feel the wind as you unite yourself and your arrow as one. This is the principles of being an archer.

"Concentrate... aim it to the target..."

I uttered these words while concentrating on aiming the arrow right through the target, pulling the arrow backward to the fullest extent, along with the bowstring of my bow, until the bowstring reached the stretching point. I, Sonoda Umi, have been in this archery club since I was a first year student of Otonokizaka Academy, and being a part of this club taught me more about discipline. Being disciplined in mind and body is the pride of Sonoda Family, which is every member of Sonoda Family must carry it that beliefs from generations to generations. I am one of them, of course.

While being in this stance position that every archer do, something just came up in my mind. Hmmm... something pretty... pretty and shiny costumes... heartwarming cheer of every fans... cute wink... sexy signature pose...

"Love Arrow Shoot~!"

All of a sudden, those chant words that I imagine before suddenly slipped out to my tongue. And it was followed by the releasing of the arrow from my bow. The arrow flies fast, tearing up the wind that the arrow passes by, until it hits the target.

"Huh?"

My sense came back from my fantasizing world to the real world. I don't know what happened to me before, the only thing i saw is that i hit the target at it's point blank. It's a bull's eye! What did i do back then?Wait... I think I remember now... no...! It's embarrassing! How did i let my imagination fly and think about such shameful things?! This all started ever since Honoka dragged me into the school idol thing, because she believed that school idol is popular these days and it's the only way to save our school from closing goodness, Honoka is being like this for a whole time.

At least no one is here in the archery club except myself, so i think no one saw me doing that. Thinking about that idol stuff... maybe it's fine to do it here. I looked around the club to see if someone was here... No one's here i guess. I think it's okay to do it here. There's a wall mirror here inside the club, I stand in front of the mirror and looked at my reflection. Then i tried various idol poses that I can imagine and I also tried to imitate the idol poses that I saw on magazines. Different hand gestures, body movements, winking while smiling, bending of hips to make my pose looks cute, i tried all of these poses to see myself if I look cute on it. But all of those poses looks cute on me, I can't decide which poses suits best for me, I ended up looking at myself again like an idiot. Why am i doing such things like this? But... doing this is fun! I didn't expect that I ended up enjoying this activity for myself.

But that ended quickly...

"Fufufu~ You seem to be enjoying it Umi-chan."

I heard some voice at my back...

"Fwaa~ Umi-chan looks cute in various poses!"

I heard another voice coming from the back! Who might that be?! Did they saw what I'm doing lately? No! This is embarrassing! What should I do now-wait!Those voices... I think i recognize those voices... I looked at the mirror and saw who's behind my it was...

"H-Honoka, and you too Kotori!?"

Wah! It's them! It's Honoka and Kotori! The mirror must be lying; I must see it by myself! I turned around and what I saw is really them! Of all the people, why them!? I'm doomed! What should I tell them now that they saw me doing shameful things like this!?

"Honoka! Kotori! W-what are you two d-doing here? And how long are you t-two standing there?"

"We came here for our practice session. But I can see that you're doing it already~"

"Y-you…. Saw everything?"

"Yup! And it's quite enjoying to see you doing that! Right Kotori?"

"Mhm! Umi-chan looks cute when doing that! Heheheh!"

What they said to me before leaves a shocking truth upon me. No! So they really see what I'm doing! This is embarrassing!

"I-I'm just….. Coming up some dance steps and poses….. Yeah! T-that's right! Dance poses!"

I spoke to them while my voice being stuttered due to the shameless act that I did before, hoping that these two believes me. I don't usually show off this kind of habits I have, not even to these two.

"Fufufu~ You don't have to hide it from us. Idols don't feel any shame right?"

Honoka replied back, while massaging my shoulder and giving me a derpy face expression that tells that I should spill the beans now. Seriously this expression of her is getting in my nerves now. I looked at Kotori to see if she believes me, but she just gave me her usual expression whenever she saw cute things.

"Wah! This is embarrassing!"

"Ahahaha! It's okay Umi-chan~ as long as your dance poses can help us being popular, then it's okay!"

I sat on the floor and covered my face with my hands. It feels like don't want to show myself to them anymore because of this embarrassment! Honoka tried to comfort me, telling me that those poses I made can be beneficial to the group. But it's not that easy to accept that fact!

"Anyway, should we head to the rooftop now for practice? It's about time now."

The ash-grey haired girl mentioned about the practice session to us two. We should get there now because it's about time now. I can see that they're already wearing their practice attire, so I stood up and said to them that I'll be changing my attire now, while those two said that they will wait me outside of the club. I headed to the changing room where the members of archery club place their things. I started changing my clothes here, taking off the clothes that i wear during my archery practice, and then wearing the practice attire that I always wear every dance practice session. After a few minutes, I'm done changing my clothes now. I quickly head outside the club to meet my two best friends once again. These two are talking about our first live show before, I can also see Honoka performing some part of her dance in front of Kotori.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Mhm! It's okay Umi-chan."

"Now that we're all set, let's head to our practice session now!"

Honoka said it in her usual loud and energetic tone. That made me and Kotori smiled and agreed to her because she's showing up such passion on this School Idol thing. I can see that she really meant about saving the school from shutting down.

"Now let's get going now."

I replied back to her and i walked first, heading to the school rooftop, which is our official place to held a practice.

"By the way Umi-chan... You should teach us that too~"

"W-what do you mean?"

Honoka said something to me. Teach that to them? What does that mean? I asked her what does she means by that because i don't really get what she- wait! C-could it be...

"Do I have to spell it out for you Umi-chan?"

Then Honoka come closer to me, looking at me with her shameless expression and massaging my shoulders again.

"Your new-cute-dance-pose~!"

"Eh?"

What?! So that's what she meant! She's bringing up that dance pose again! I can't do that! I don't even want to remember it either!

"I am curious about that too Umi-chan! Please teach us that!"

Kotori said that too, agreeing to what Honoka said. No! I don't want to teach that or even remember!

"Stop it you two! It's embarrassing!"

I refuse their offer, keeping that dance pose to myself. It's too embarrassing to teach it to them! After that, these two begin to laugh at me. Geez... These two really knows how to make fun on me. I don't know what to do with them, especially Honoka.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking all the way to the top, we finally arrived at the rooftop. As usual, no one is here but only us three. Up here you can see the entire city along with the vast sky. The weather is also fine, perfect for us to start the practice. We put our things besides the door where the shades protects our things against the heat of the sun. Honoka and Kotori is fired up for practice and I am grateful to that. Time to start our practice!

We start our practice by warm-up exercise, stretching our arms and legs, bending our body on various directions, to make sure that our body is working fine. This kind of exercise is a basic thing to do before engaging to such intense activity such as dancing and is what we learned from our Physical Education class. After warm-up exercise, we proceeded to our dance practice, the core of our practice. W started our practice through recalling our dance steps that we performed on our First Live weeks ago.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!"

I keep on counting those numbers a hundred times, following with a clap of my hands while I watch the two dancing. As I count and clap my hands, their dance steps synchronized perfectly to every count. Then later on, we repeated our dance steps again but this time, I joined them and the three of us dances together.

"Honoka, your moves are getting sloppy, are you tired already?"

"No! Not yet!"

Honoka replied to me, denying that she's tired. I can see that she's not tired yet because she's still showing up so much energy.

"Good! Kotori, don't forget the next step again."

"Okay~!"

Seems that Kotori is as energetic as Honoka too. She didn't even forgot the steps that I pointed out to her before. I can see their improvements as the practice goes on. I guess our main goal on saving our school from shutting down is what leads us to do our very best.

"Alright! We're doing it good. Let's take a break now."

I declared it to them after our non-stop repetition of the steps. The sun is starting to set up as the sky color turned from blue to orange, which mean the afternoon is about to end now. Kotori laid a white blanket on the floor and put our things there, and the three of us sat there. She also gave us some cold bottled drinks to replenish our stamina.

"Here you go Umi-chan."

"Thank you Kotori."

"You're welcome! This one's yours Honoka-chan."

"Thanks Kotori-chan!"

The three of us opened the drinks and start drinking it while resting. Ahh... the drinks is really refreshing.

"Ahh~ I'm tired...!"

Honoka said it in a relief tone, she drinks another one and then rubbed the bottle on her left cheek to feel the cold.

"Our dance progress is going smoothly. I just hope that we can gather new members for our club."

Kotori said it and then drank another one. I just hope that she's right and we can gather new members for our club. Oh, i just remembered something...!

"That reminds me of that first year who visited us yesterday night... Koizumi-san was it?"

I mentioned that name to them. Koizumi-san is also a student of Otonokizaka Academy and our underclassmen. She visited us yesterday at Honoka's family sweet shop, Homura.

"Yes, but I think she's still undecided for that."

"Is that so?"

"I think she'll join our group soon."

Honoka suddenly said that, seems that she has a high hopes for her. Which makes me wonder how can Honoka tells that.

"How can you tell that Honoka?"

"Well... I can see that she has an edge to be an idol. Plus I think she likes idols a lot. That's all I can say."

"Well... You might be right about that. But we still can't tell that if she'll join us."

I pointed out it to Honoka. It's true that Koizumi-san has a potential of being an idol, and she holds interest to it. But it's still not enough because of her shyness. I've noticed her shyness already when we met her before. That made me start doubting what Honoka said. Until then...

Someone came out from the door, and they are three girls. Based on the color of their ribbons tied on their neck collar, I can say that they're first year. In Otonokizaka Academy, the level of students are determined through the color of the ribbons issued on them. The blue one is for first years, the maroon is for second years and lastly, the green is for the third years. Going back to the situation, there are three first years who suddenly barge in. Actually, only these two barge in, the third one is tied up in their arms and being dragged down by these two. The one on the right is a short-haired girl with a orange-colored has a yellow eyes and her hair is short that you can blindly mistook her as boy. The one on the right has a shoulder-length yet wavy hair, colored in bright red and she has a purple-colored eyes-wait! I know her. This girl is Nishikino Maki, the girl who helped us in our First Live by composing a song for us. And the one who's being dragged has a short hair that the ends of her hair almost touched her shoulder. The color of her hair is golden brown and she wears a glass. She looks tired, probably got tired for being dragged-wait! Is that Koizumi-san? Why is she being dragged down by these two? What are they doing here?

"What are-"

"I'm sorry for the sudden intrusion, but my friend here wants to join your idol group."

I was about to ask them what are they doing here, but the orange-haired girl spoke first and asked us to let Koizumi-san joined our asked her why she wants to join the group and the orange-haired explained everything she know about Koizumi-san's passion and dream on being an idol, and she also explained about her friend's indecisive side that prevents her from joining the group.

After hearing out the entire story, Kotori asked the orange-haired girl if her friend really wants to join the group.

"So she wants to join our group?"

"Yeah! Kayochin's wanted to be an idol for a really long time!"

"That doesn't matter!"

Suddenly, the red-haired girl, Nishikino-san, interrupted on what the orange-haired said that she startles her due to the loud voice.

"What matters is that she can sing well!"

Nishikino-san added those words to what she said earlier, but the other one insist.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?"

"I mean exactly what I said."

And the two continues to argue like a cat and dog. Then, Koizumi-san interfere to the two.

"I... I'm still... How do I put this..."

"Oh come on! Stop being so indecisive!"

The orange-haired suddenly yelled at her friend for being so indecisive, like what a best friend do.

"There's something we can agree on. If you want to do it, then go for it.

The red-haired added those words to what the other girl said before, pointing out something that the two agreed on

"B-But..."

"Letting out your voice is simple. You can do it."

The red-haired said those words as she hold Koizumi-san's both shoulder and faced her head-to-head.

"I know you've always wanted to be an idol."

Then the orange-haired added those words to what the red-haired said, facing Koizumi-san to her this time while holding her both shoulders.

"Rin-chan... Nishikino-san..."

"Do your best. I'll always be rooting for you."

"And what I said still stands. I'll help you out every now and then."

The two continued to encourage her. Honoka, Kotori and I just watched at them and waiting for Koizumi-san's decision. I admire how these three supporting one another, like what Honoka, Kotori and I supports, holding hand in hand, without leaving one of us behind. Those kind of friendship is truly admirable. After that, Koizumi-san began to introduce herself, letting out a soft voice that we can't hear clearly. She's being shy and hesitant again. As she tried to pick up her pace, a sudden force pushes her forward that fills her with courage to step forward and face us three with determination. That force came from her two friends. Koizumi-san looked at them from her back and her two friends smiled at her, giving their full support for her, which made her eyes watered with her tears. In her thoughts, she's always shy around, but with the support of her friends, she can move forward and overcome anything without hesitation. She's glad to have them by her side. After that, she face us three again but she's different this time.

"I'm Koizumi Hanayo. I'm a first year, short. I have a soft voice, i'm really shy... and I don't have anything I'm particularly good at... But I believe I'm more passionate about becoming an idol than anyone! So... Please let me join μ's!"

She introduced herself to us with a determined look from her face. The Koizumi-san before has changed in a good way. She put up all of her will to cast aside her shyness and face us with such a great courage. She bowed down her head towards us and asked to let her join the group. In my standards, her courage and passion is enough to let her join the group.

"We'd love to have you."

The three of us stands in front of her. Honoka reached out her hands to Koizumi-san, which means that we're accepting her as a new member.

"Welcome to the team!"

Honoka's words of acceptance made her smiled and her eyes filled with tears of joy, then she took Honoka's handshake offer. She felt happy because her effort of gathering all of her courage to join us has been finally paid off. And now she's officially the fourth member of μ's. Kotori is glad to have her in our group, and so am I.

"Kayochin, you're all grown up now."

The orange-haired girl uttered those words while wiping her tears, knowing that her dear friend has grown-up and finally achieving her first step towards her dream to be an idol.

"Why are you crying?"

The red-haired girl asked that kind of question, without realizing that her eyes are being teary too.

"Because... wait, aren't you crying too?"

"W-what are you talking about? I'm not crying."

The orange-haired girl answered her with another question because it's obvious that she's crying too. But the red-haired deny that fact. Kotori and I watched those two's conversation. This made me and Kotori think of the same thing, and we both know that this is the right thing to do for them.

"So what about you two? What are you going to do?"

"What? Us? What?"

Kotori asked the two first years, and the two seems to be shocked on what Kotori asked. It's obvious to them already what Kotori means.

"We're still recruiting members!"

"Yep!"

Kotori and I reached out our hands towards the two, asking them to join the group too because we're still looking out for new members. This is the best thing to do so that no one from them will be left behind, plus they'll be together once again, supporting each other in the same group. The two are still in a shocking state, but their face is saying that they are happy to accept the invitation, and later the two joined the group as well. The orange-haired girl, which is named herself as Hoshizora Rin, hugged her dear friend, and then dragged the red-haired girl for a group hug. The three new members are happy for being a part of our group together, willing to discover a new experience together as School Idols.

After a heart-warming moments, I explained to the first years about our purpose of becoming a School Idols, I also explained about our daily practice schedule. I know it's kinda rude to break their moments, but it's better to let them know sooner so that they're prepared to adjust for it, and it's getting dark already so i need to end this quickly. Rin was shocked about the morning practice because it's kinda early for her to wake up in that time, but she agreed to it afterwards, along with Hanayo and Maki. The three seems to be excited for tomorrow's practice. Well... Maki is denying the fact that she's excited, but she's just shy to express it.

Later on, the six of us looked at the glamorous sunset. The radiant sun still shines brightly while slowly sinking through the great horizon, painting the vast sky to bright orange.

"The sunset is beautiful isn't it?"

Honoka asked it while fixing her sight to the grand beauty of the sun setting down. The rest of us agreed to her. Cold and gentle wind blows upon us six, which drives our stress away with it's cool breeze. The scenery is beautiful too, so it helps us to relax. Honoka steps forward for closer view but suddenly...

"Huh?"

Something catches her attention, I don't know what is it. So I approach her to ask that thing.

"There's someone at the school grounds. Who might that be?"

I said that to her rather than asking her, the rest of us looked down at the school grounds. Who is that person down there? It's kinda far to see that person in this distance but I see some features of it, Blonde yet short hair, wearing a black jacket with white furs around the neck part and also wearing a black fitting jeans. I can't see the face because that person is looking away from us but later on, that person face on this direction. I can't see the face of this person, but I think that's a...Guy? Is that really a guy? I fixed my sight on him and I can say that it's really a guy. But what is this guy doing here at this time?

"That person is a guy, no doubt about it!"

"His attire and posture says it all-nya."

"But what is that guy doing here anyway?"

Everyone is puzzled about the presence of that guy. He might be waiting for someone, but that doesn't mean he can wander off inside the school for that reason. He can just wait outside the gate if that's the reason. I think there's a reason behind his presence. I asked Honoka about her opinion on that guy but she suddenly froze and remained standing in her position. What's wrong with Honoka?

"Honoka? What's wrong?"

"Honoka-chan?"

Kotori and I asked her, but she's not capable of replying yet. We started to worry about her. Wait... does she-

"That's...!"

"Honoka!"

After uttering those unfinished words, she suddenly runs fast, dashing off downstairs as she left us behind. What's happening to her?

"Umi-chan! What's wrong with Honoka-chan?"

"I don't know, but we must follow her to know it!"

I ran off downstairs and went after her, the others followed too. I called out Honoka but she kept on running and ignoring us like we don't exist. What is happening to her? Does she knows something about that person? I want to ask her that, but it seems that asking her doesn't solve it. The only thing to know the answer is to follow Honoka and see it by myself. She's going to face that person directly.

We finally reached the school grounds as Honoka stopped there, but no one is here. The person that we saw before is no longer here. Where did he go? Honoka looked around the school ground while the rest of us are tired from chasing her.

"Haaa... Haaa... I'm tired-nya...!"

"I can't run anymore...!"

Rin and Hanayo complained. The five of us are still catching our breaths, so does to Honoka, but she's still looking around the area. Then after a few seconds, Honoka suddenly ran again! She might be trying to catch up that person at the entrance, and i assume that she's heading there now.

"Honoka! Wait!"

I shouted towards her but she didn't hear it. The others are still tired and can't run, so I left them and went after Honoka again until we reached the front entrance of the school. As we reached the entrance, the two of us heard a loud roar coming from the outside of gate. It's coming from the engine of a vehicle!

 ***VROOM! VROOM! VVVROOOOOMMMM!***

The roar of the engine echoed through the entrance, the next thing we saw is the person we saw before is riding on a motorcycle. So that engine is coming from the motorcycle, and he's getting away now!

"Wait!"

Honoka shouted and demand the unknown person to stop, but it's too late now. Her words didn't reach his ear and he fled away from us. I can still hear the engine roar but it's slowly fading away. I can only hear a fainting sound of engine from the far distance. That person is far away to reach now. Kotori and the first years arrived at the scene, then i approached at Honoka.

"Honoka! Who is that person and why are you chasing it!?"

I asked it to her since I've been asking that question to her lately but she's just ignoring it. But this time, she must answer it!

"Maybe... I was mistaken."

"Huh?"

She was mistaken? For what? What does she means by that? I am puzzled to her respond.

"Maybe that's not the person. That's got to be it."

"What do you mean Honoka?"

"Sorry about that everyone. I mistook that personas someone I met before. Ahahahah."

"Honoka..."

Honoka just suddenly laughs like that, after all that happenings that made us five worried. I guess she's telling the truth because as far as I've known, she can be clumsy at all other four approaches us two, Rin is complaining on Honoka for making her and Hanayo run like that. Honoka apologize again to the first years for that. But setting that aside, that guy left a mystery on us. Who is that person and what is he doing here in Otonokizaka Academy? I just looked at the far end of the road and thinking about that question to myself. Maybe I'm just over-thinking on such things. I'll just forget it and let go of it.

* * *

A night has been passed since we successfully recruited the first years, Maki, Rin and Hanayo. Now, today is Wednesday, and the time is 05:00 in the morning. The clouds in the morning sky let up as the sun rise again, illuminating the darkness of the night and filled the city of Tokyo with it's brimming light. I was just finished on my morning Kendo practice here in our family Dojo. It's almost time for our morning dance practice with the new members. So I quickly prepared myself for it. After a minutes of preparation, I left my house and went to the Shrine where we held our morning i arrived the stairs that leads up to the shrine, Kotori is there waiting and Honoka is just arrived too. The three of us went up the shrine and we are surprised at what we saw. The first years are here already and just finished up their warm-up exercise. The three of us are happy to see our new members being active for the School Idol activity.

We begin our morning practice now that last around up to one and a half hour. After that, we ended our morning practice and prepared to go to school. The six of head home again to change attire to our school uniform and then head to school. Honoka, Kotori and I head to school together and arrived there around 07:20 in the morning. The three of us are having fun on talking about the new members and how they put up an effort for the first day of their practice, until something catches our attention. Upon our arrival on the school entrance, we saw a small group of girls from our school gathering around nearby the gate, around five girls in that group and chatting about something. I'm not the type of person who listens to the chatty gossips, but I'm curious about it this time. It feels like they're chatting about something related to school.

"Good morning. What's happening here?"

I greet them first and asked it politely. The long-haired girl fixed in pony tail responded to me.

"Oh. Good morning too Umi-sempai. Well, there's a rumor here that there's a new student who just transferred here."

"A transferee?"

"Yes. Some says that the transferee is a second year, other says that it's a first year. But we're not sure about that yet."

"I see... thank you for the info."

"Bye."

The three of us left those girls and proceed to our classroom. So there's a new transferee who choose to study here? I thought that Otonokizaka Academy appears to be unappealing to some students? But isn't that a good news? That means our school has still hope to attract new students. If our school continues to attract new students, the Principal might revoke the announcement of shutting the school down! Honoka and Kotori are felt happy after hearing that rumors, especially Honoka. That motivates her to do her best on being School Idol, all for the sake of saving the school. After a minutes of walking, we finally arrived our classroom. The three of us proceed to our respective seats, which is still closer to each other. On the classroom, we talked about the new transferee.

"Isn't that great? I'm glad that there's still student that is interested to transfer and study here in our school!"

The ginger-haired, Honoka said it in her usual energetic tone. She was very happy about it.

"Yeah! I'm glad Mom still accept transferee, even thought our school is on the verge of shutting down!"

The ash grey-haired, Kotori agreed to Honoka. Then the two hold each other's hands as they jumped out of joy.

"Still, that doesn't mean our is saved from shutting down. That announcement is still on effect."

"That's true... But there's still hope! Our School Idol Club will save our school from shutting down!"

Honoka declared it without hesitation, Kotori and I agreed to her declaration. I admire her on how she put things out in a positive way.

"But putting that aside, i wonder what year would that transferee be?"

Kotori said it, asking about the year status of that transferee.

"Some says that it will be on a second year, but other said it would be third years. We still don't know about it."

"I hope that that the transferee would be in our section! I'm so excited to see what does she looks like!"

Honoka said it while giggling and felt excited to the new student.

"But come to think of it, we haven't seen the transferee yet. The others didn't see it too. Where does that transferee go?"

I said that to them and asked that question. It's true, no one has seen the transferee wandering around the school. Not even one of the students here has an idea on what the transferee looks like. As the three of us think about that, the classroom slide door opened and someone entered the room.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Ms. Satoko!"

The class greeted her back. She is Ms. Satoko Miyama, our homeroom teacher in English. She went to her teacher's desk and put her book and the class record in it.

"Before we start our class, I would like to announce you that there's a new transferee attending in our class."

As the teacher announced it, the whole class has gone noisy! Each of us here begins to talk about the good news. Some are excited to see that transferee.

"I knew it! That transferee will be in our section! I'm so excited!"

Honoka said it while holding her excitement, same goes to Kotori. Of course, I'm as excited as these two.

"Stand down class. You may enter the class now."

The teacher called the new student who was standing outside. Thetransferee entered the classroom. The class went quiet after that, no one even spill a single voice, even Honoka, Kotori and I. Everyone was shocked... The transferee faced the blackboard, picking up the chalk and writes its name on it in a English Alphabet. After writing, the transferee faced us and introduced itself.

" _Good morning classmate. My name is Marcus Raine Wallcroft. I'm a transferee student who came from London, United Kingdom. It's an honor to be a part of this class._ "

Wha... What? What!? The transferee is a guy!? How in the world this happened? I thought Otonokizaka is an all-girls school! How did a guy like him accepted here?After he introduced himself, the whole class gone noisy again! The classes attention are focused on him. They are amazed about him, some are screaming like what the fan girls scream over their favorite celebrities! The three of us are still stunned and unable to react at it.

"The transferee is a guy!?"

"So my friend said is true! Wow~!"

"He's a foreigner who came from London? So cool!"

"Fwaaa~! He's so cool and charming! I'm glad he's part of our class!"

Their praising and fan girl-like screaming has gone loud that the other class can hear it! W-well... It is quite understandable on why they behave like that. Aside from the transferee is the first guy in Otonokizaka, he's a foreigner with a good features; Blonde hair, turquoise-colored eyes, fairly tall, pale white skin and has a well-developed figure for a guy like him.

"So he seriously took that..."

"Kotori? Did you say something?"

"E-eh? That was nothing! A-anyway, isn't it great to have him in our school, Umi-chan?"

"Y-yeah! It's great to have him here."

I just simply agree on Kotori, though I'm still wandering why did he accepted here. Maybe we'll find that out soon.

"How about you Honoka-"

Kotori asked about Honoka's comment, but the two of us was shocked about what we saw. Honoka is still shocked while looking at him, as if she saw a ghost. Why is she's acting like that? She was excited before. But now, all of her excitement is gone.

"Honoka?"

I called out her name, but she don't respond to it. She just went silent now and unable to speak. What happened to Honoka? Does she know something about him? Or maybe she was just stunned and can't believe that we have a guy classmate now.

"Now class, let's be good towards him now and then."

"Yes Maam!"

The whole class agreed to what Ms. Satoko said. Some are chatting each other and planning to be friends with him after the class.

"You too Wallcroft-san. Be kind to your classmates, you're the only man here. Treat them well and don't hit girls okay?"

The teacher told that to him in a joking manner, then she chuckled a bit. Goodness... Ms. Satoko can be a joker to a new student. The blonde guy didn't even bothered by it.

" _Understoo-I mean, yes ma'am! I will do my best to get along with them._ "

The blonde guy, Marcus, also agreed to Ms. Satoko's term. I looked at Marcus in the eyes, and one thing that comes off from my mind. His glance and the way he look... Eck! Never mind! Maybe i'm just imagining things and judging him rashly

"You may sit there in that vacant chair at the back of Kousaka-san."

The teacher pointed out the vacant seat behind Honoka, located at the back row, closed to the window. This will be his official seat. The blonde transferee nodded to the teacher, then he picked up his school bag and walked towards his new eyes of my classmates are still focused on him. He went passes on my seat, but as he about to passes Honoka and Kotori...

Honoka suddenly stands up quickly and stared at the new classmate intently. The blonde transferee was a bit surprised towards Honoka as he looked upon her, but he didn't speak to it. What is Honoka doing, Standing off like that out of nowhere?

"H-Honoka?"

"Honoka-chan?"

Kotori and I called out to her, wondering about what is she looks so serious and kind of scary. Wait... could it be...

"You...! What are you doing here in our school, you Meanie-head!?"

"E-EEHHH?!"

All of a sudden, Honoka suddenly pointed out her index finger towards the transferee and said those words to him! Then the whole class reacted to it! What is happening here!? Why is Honoka acting like that to the new transferee? Wait! Does she knows him before? Did something happened in between then that Kotori and I didn't know? Everyone in our class are shocked in this sudden behavior of Her, even Ms. Satoko was caught up in this shocking scenery! She's being rude and scandalous to him! This is embarrassing! Shameless! Absolutely shameless! What in the world is going on? I don't understand at all!

* * *

Meanwhile, at the SAS Military Base in Credenhill UK, a woman clad in military uniform is standing nearby the small assault-type helicopter named 'Little Bird', looking at the helicopter and checking every part of it. From the rotor blades, up to the weapon system of it such as 8mm Mini-gun and Roc Hydra Unguided Missile Launcher attached to it's side, the woman is checking all of it, securing it so that it is working perfectly for the upcoming operation.

 ***RING RING***

As she opened the pilot's seat, her phone suddenly ringed. She pulled up her phone and without hesitation, she answer the phone.

 _"Alice? Come in Cpt. Alice!"_

A voice of an Asian woman can be heard through the phone.

"Greetings, Sayuri. This is Cpt. Alice. How's the package delivery? Have you received it?"

The woman who named herself as Alice, replied to the caller, who was named by Alice as Sayuri. She was asking about the current situation of the package she referred.

 _"We have received the package that you sent, ma'am."_

"Very must deliver that package to him. That package holds a very important memories and unfinished duty of him."

 _"Understood, but what is the content of this...'important' package?"_

"You'll find that out when you deliver it to him. Once you deliver it to him, tell him that he must carry it at all times. It will aid him on his task there."

 _"I see. I'll do that then."_

"By the way, how is he doing there now?"

Alice suddenly asked something about the condition of that person she referred before.

 _"Currently, he has already assigned to his working place now. I've already arranged and provide every document that he'll need in there."_

The caller replied to her, telling about the good condition of that person.. Alice felt relief to what the caller said. She sat on the pilot's seat while checking the controller of the helicopter.

"I see. Well... As long as he won't get compromised, that's a relief. But i think my father's acquaintance there will also keep him on a low profile. After all, she IS the one who offered that deal to him after the success of the previous operation."

 _"I sure hope so, ma'am."_

"Until then, take care of the rest. That's all for now, good work Sayuri."

Then Alice ended the call, putting the phone back to her pocket. She let out a sigh of relief, then she looked blankly at the vast blue sky. While looking up, she thought about something.

"So he's doing it well... It seems that he's starting to regain his human-self in there. I guess it's a good thing that Father kept him away from the front line."

Alice uttered those sentences, in a melancholic tone. Then she gave a sigh of relief, knowing that the person she mentioned before is doing well, away from her sight.

"Too bad I'm not there to keep an eye on him... but, I bet she'll be glad to hear that news if she's still here! Hehehe~ Do your best out there, Brother!"

She said those words with a cheerful expression on her face. An expression that she only give for that person that was mentioned by her before. After reminiscing those memories, her cheerful expression has changed back to her usual brave and ruthless face expression that never yields to worst thing, an expression of a brave heart that only a elite soldiers have. Then suddenly, a voice of a soldier has been heard from her radio. After hearing it, Alice ride the Little Bird and started it's engine. The rotor blades of the helicopter starts to spin, creating a strong gush of violent winds around her, and the Little Bird slowly went up, gaining it's flight.

"Looks like the hunt is on... heh! This is Reaper-02. Sortie!"

The woman who was now piloting the Assault-Type Helicopter finally descends to the vast sky once again for another prey to be hunt down.

 **-END OF CHAPTER 1-**

* * *

 **and that's how the first chapter of my story ends. Basically, the reason behind Marcus's being accepted in Otonokizaka will be explained on the secons chapter. And yes! Honoka and Marcus's argument! It's cute! Imagine: a cute-yet-derpy leader arguing over the cold-yet-serious foreign guy like Marcus. Expect more comedic arguments to come in the future chapters(and lol at Umi's shameless act and being compromised by HonoKoto) XD**

 **Also, the existence of Marcus will slowly unravel his purposes for going to Japan as the story continues. You will know everything about him when the story continues. And no, being the only guy in all-girls school doesn't mean he'll own all the girls there. that's a big NO! Because harems are too mainstream! In fact, i have better things to do rather than that. huehuehue! :3**

 **Well, that's all for now. Stay Tuned for the next chapter(and hope i could finish it faster). E-Razor Light, Power down. XD**


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